Oil gauge rod wiper



AP 1938. o. LIKENS OIL GAUGE ROD WIPER Filed April 2, 1935 Patented Apr. 5, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to wipers for oil gauge rods such as those now in common use in automobile motors. As is well known these rods indicate the oil level in the crank-case of the motor but to obtain this indication it is necessary that the gauge rod be wiped upon first removing it so that the oil level will be clearly shown upon its second insertion and withdrawal. It has been general practice to use cloth rags for this purpose by gasoline and oil vending stations but they are put to considerable expense in obtaining the large quantity of rags necessary in servicing the large number of automobiles serviced at these stations. Another difiiculty which confronts the station operators is the disposal of these rags after they have become saturated with oil. Another costly feature of the use of rags is the time spent by service men in finding lost rags, replacing used rags with clean ones and disposing of the oil-saturated rags.

The object of my invention generally is to eliminate the above difiiculties by providing a. small wiper adapted to be carried in the pocket of a service man.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a small wiping device which shall be capable of wiping a large number of oil gauge rods.

A further object of my invention is to provide a wiper which will not discharge oil, thereby preventing the Staining or soiling of a service mans clothes and hands or those of the automobile operator.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a wiper the oil absorbent material of which may be cleaned or replaced so that the life of the wiping device may be substantially unlimited.

Other advantages and objects will appear when the following description is read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a front view;

Figure 2 is a top plan view, and

Figure 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1.

In all views of the drawing similar reference characters represent similar elements of the device.

Referring to the drawing, I indicates a U- shaped, elongated metal holder or enclosure having three open sides which is of the proper dimensions and adapted to fit the hand of the operator and can be compressed so that its sides may be brought into close relation with each other. The edges of this metal holder are turned over as indicated at 3 in Fig. 3 of the drawing. This provides a space for retaining any free oil which may accumulate during the wiping operation so that there can be no oil escape from the device thereby preventing the soiling of hands or clothing of the operator. Fastened to and enclosed by the metal holder there is provided the oil absorbent material l which is preferably felt having the requisite absorbent properties. The edges of the felt are spaced from the edges of the metal holder so that oil will not escape and so that the felt will not touch exterior objects as shown by the drawing. The metal holding member and felt or other absorbent material should be of the relative dimensions indicated in the drawing so that the felt will line the inside of the metal holder as shown and the insertion of an oil gauge rod is facilitated. Thus the rod may be firmly embraced by compressing the wiper with the hand.

Reference numeral 2 indicates a fastening means for securing the oil absorbent material to the metal holder I. It is to be understood, however, that I do not limit myself to this specific fastening means since any well known means can be used.

In operation my device is held in one hand while the oil gauge rod is held in the other. Then the operator inserts the rod in the wiper in the obvious manner and compresses the wiper so that the absorbent material closely embraces the rod. The operator then draws the rod through the wiper thus removing the oil completely from the said gauge rod. I have found in practice that this wiper completely removes the oil from the rod in one operation and that this operation is completed in a much shorter time than the use of an ordinary rag will permit. It has also been found in practice that the open slot 5 should be only slightly wider than the thickness of the ordinary oil gauge rod. This facilitates insertion of the rod and at the same time prevents the excessive wear occasioned by repeated insertion of the rod in a slot which is narrower than the thickness of the rod. The slot 5 is preferably substantially V-shaped at its bottom portion as shown at 6 in Fig. 3. This permits a wiping operation by simply pressing the rod to the lower extremity of the slot and withdrawing it.

It has been found by actual practice that my oil gauge wiper will cleanly wipe approximately five hundred oil gauge rods of all shapes and lengths now in use in automobile motors. After this amount of use it becomes necessary to remove the absorbed oil from the absorbent material. This can be done by soaking the whole wiper in some fluid such as gasoline which will completely remove the accumulated oil from the wiper. After a further large amount of use the absorbent material wears away and it is necessary to remove the old material and insert a new piece of absorbent material. Thus it is evident that my device with a small amount of repairing has unlimited life, saves time and is very economical both in first cost and in maintenance.

It is to be understood that although I have shown the preferred species of my invention it can be used for wiping any device similar to an oil gauge rod and its shape and dimensions can be changed in any desired manner within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A wiper comprising a metal, U-shaped member, liquid-absorbing means disposed within said U-shaped member, said U-shaped member having liquid retaining means at the edges thereof comprising inwardly facing U-shaped members.

2. A Wiper comprising a U-shaped member, liquid absorbing means disposed within said U- shaped member to form an open slot, the edges of said member being spaced outwardl from the edges of said means and liquid retaining means disposed about the edges of said member.

3. A wiper comprising a resilient, U-shaped member, liquid absorbing means disposed within said member to form a slot, the edges of said member being spaced from the edges of said means and inwardly facing liquid retaining means disposed about the edges of said member.

EDWARD O. LIKENS. 

